Sunday, August 02, 2009

Chukwu Keen On Title After 25 Years

Head coach at Enugu Rangers, Christian Chukwu, is still concerned with the long-run of the club without winning a title in the country’s Premier League or cup competition.
The last time, the Flying Antelopes won a trophy was in 1984 when Chukwu captained the Enugu-based club to win the league then known as the National Division I League.
Before then, Rangers had dominated the 1970s and early 1980s and even won the double on three occasions in 1974, 1975 and 1981 when Chukwu was a player of the club.
Enugu Rangers has won a total of 11 titles in Nigeria and that includes winning the FA Cup five times and the league title six times.
Since 1984, the Coal City Premier League outfit, which has never been relegated from the top-flight of club football in Nigeria, came close to winning the FA Cup now called the Federation Cup on three occasions in 1990, 2000 and 2007 losing to defunct Stationery Stores, Niger Tornadoes and Dolphins Football Club respectively.
The club has also come close to winning the league trophy in the late 1990s and at the start of this millennium.
But Chukwu’s concern is that the jinx on the club he played for as a schoolboy seems to have stuck to it and is keen to ending 25 years without winning any laurel in the country.
“The last time we won anything in Nigeria, I was still a player then,” began Chukwu. “It was in 1984 and it was the league that we won. The league then was tougher than what we had now. But it is unfortunate that things have gone this way for us though a number of factors led to us missing the chance off winning a trophy last season.”
The Rangers’ coach is, however, confident that he can become the first man to lead the Flying Antelopes to a first title in over two decades of becoming the nearly-men in Nigeria’s club football.

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